There is a particular kind of hesitation piano teachers recognize immediately. A student looks at a note, looks at the teacher, perhaps looks down at the keyboard, and then begins counting from a familiar landmark. The answer eventually arrives, but the music has stopped while the student searches. That hesitation is not a sign that […]
Mobile Apps
What If Every Note Had a Home? A Story-Based Way to Introduce the Grand Staff – A Guest Post by Dr. Leila Karimi
This method did not begin in a classroom. It began with my daughter, Alla. Alla started piano lessons at five years old and loved them. Her teacher was wonderful, she practiced happily, and by every visible measure the lessons were working. Then, about three years in, I noticed something that stopped me. She could play […]
“Is She Getting Any Better?” – A Guest Post by Harrison Lavins
Sooner or later a parent catches you in the doorway, car keys already in hand, and asks whether their child is getting any better. The answer is, of course, yes. The hard part is naming one thing, on the spot, that would actually mean something to them, and I have fumbled that more times than […]
Best Piano and Guitar Chord Resource!
Ingvaras Galinskas, the founder of Melodician (a word the developer coined to mean, “a person who makes melodies”), contacted me several weeks ago to let me know about this amazing resource he has created. If you’ve ever wanted a quick place to go or to send a student to look up the notes of a […]
MasterPiano App – A Review
It seems that piano sightreading apps are a hot development project right now! When the developer of the new MasterPiano app contacted me at the beginning of summer after learning about our Cracking the Crystal Code practice incentive theme last year, I was eager to check out this new and promising app focused on developing […]
What Do I Give the Intermediate Student Who’s Outgrown their Method Book? – A Guest Post by Harrison Lavins
Every teacher I know has one of these on their student list. The student is itching to expand beyond their method book series, reads well enough, wants to play the piece from their favorite movie (or video game), and is quietly about two months from quitting. Maybe for others, it’s the intermediate transfer student who […]
